Maybe this is only news, but I bring it up as an example that illustrates trends in our culture. An L.A. Times Article summarized a recent poll on the subject:

A majority of Americans — 67% — say that they prefer people to say “Merry Christmas,” with only 18% saying that they’d rather hear “Happy holidays,” according to a new Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind poll. (Another 15% say that they’re indifferent, or would rather people not say anything. Grinches!)

However, when poll results were broken down by age, the numbers shifted.

“Support for ‘Happy Holidays’ is greatest among young people: 30% of Americans under the age of 30 say that they’d rather hear the more neutral greeting,” according to the poll results. By comparison, only 15% of people age 60 and older preferred that neutral greeting.

All that said, the traditional holiday greeting is still preferable by both the young and the less young.

The poll found that 58% of Americans ages 18-29 and 70% of Americans age 60 and older still prefer “Merry Christmas.”

Again, that’s one example – the real thing to look for is how the emerging generation has its own share of trends that will only continue without Christian teens serving and speaking into it.

Brainstorm ways their peers or culture tries to get us to not care about something like we used to or water down our beliefs.

Talk about the Google’s “Christmas/Happy Holidays” Doodle as an example.

Take a poll in the room of how many people prefer “Merry Christmas” vs “Happy Holidays.”

Ask which expression they think their friends or family prefer and why.

Explore other trends with students from 2013. Look for some appropriate ones to talk about through these social media websites (these will show things you may not want to go into, so preview and select your topics with sensitivity to your church and through the Holy Spirit). See if students can identify why certain things were popular this year and how these topics might look in five years if their generation doesn’t serve culture by speaking truth and offering Jesus Christ into it: